World Spins Madly On
by oylizabeth
Summary: Noah doesn't know how Shelby ever got out of Rachel Berry's life. Because it's been 8 years since their high school graduation and he's still firmly entrenched in her life.


Really long Puckeberry. I like the idea of Puck turning into a cop. It's an interesting career choice for him. This is super cheesy and mostly Pucks perspective.

Again…I don't own anything. Sad.

* * *

Puck truly can't believe that Shelby ever actually got out of Rachel Berry's life. Because once that girl sets her mind to it, things happen. Like after getting screwed at Regionals their first year, they placed at Nationals the following year, and Pucks pretty sure it's all because Rachel Berry willed it so. Because people who ever meet Rachel Berry aren't likely to ever forget her. Or not want to know her. Because it's been about 8 years since their high school graduation and Noah is still firmly entrenched in Rachel Berry's life.

There were quite a few of them who had managed to get out of Ohio for school and other endeavors. And luckily, some of them ended up in New York together. Kurt studying fashion, Quinn studying photography, Artie had gone to some kind of film school up here (Puck isn't quite sure, it all sounded complicated. All he knows is that after graduation, Artie was working his way up the ladder as one of the more innovative "up and coming" directors of the new generation. And that sometimes it cuts into his and Puck's designated Call of Duty tournaments.) Mike and Matt got dance scholarships to another school and were in the process of touring with some pop singer. They make it back to the city every now and then to catch up.

And of course Rachel.

Like there was ever any doubt. She got into NYU's theatre program, finished early while working her way up the Broadway ranks. She's only 24 and is about to open a new Broadway play next week as the female lead.

Noah ended up in New York on a partial scholarship and student loans. After his graduation, he kind of applied to the Police Academy on a whim and got in. Which is how he ended up a bonafide New York City Police Officer.

The rest had become slightly scattered. Finn had gone to play football in Indiana somewhere and was now working his way up the coaching ranks in the college coaching realm. Santana and Brittany ended up at USC on cheering scholarships, Mercedes in Michigan and still singing and Tina in D.C. studying art.

But anyway. It's not like the gleeks in NY all hung out together all the time or whatever. It's just that when they were all in college, every now and then they make a point to meet up in some dive bar that didn't care about ID's and get smashed together. And then when they all turned 21 and graduated and got better jobs, they all would meet up and get smashed together in slightly nicer bars that they could afford. Which is how Puck knows that Artie's becoming pretty well known, how he knows that Quinn has gotten a gig with a photography agency and one of her upcoming jobs is to shoot fashion week and how he knows that Rachel is on the verge of becoming a very, VERY big star.

Their schedules have all become crazy, so the meeting up for drinks turns into a once every few months thing.

This time the text goes out from Rachel to all of the usuals to meet up at their normal bar at 9pm. Puck shows up 20 minutes late because one, he knows it pisses Rachel off, and two he had a hella long day at work and took his time showering and getting the day off him. He finds the usuals (Rachel, Artie, Kurt and Quinn) at a table in the back, along with Mike and Matt (who he didn't know were in town) and Finn.

"What the hell? What are you doing in town?" Puck hadn't seen Finn in months. Football season at Notre Dame had taken up Finn's time as he was an assistant coach there.

They slap hands and give each other man hugs as Finn explains his presence.

"Football season's over dude. I have some time off so I decided to come and visit. By the way, I'm staying with you."

Puck just laughs. Dude never was one for planning shit anyway and it's not like he doesn't have the weekend free so he's cool.

"Awesome."

Quinn and Kurt are already bored with the conversation as it has turned into planning an all day video game marathon. Duties are being divided as to who's bringing what kind of beer and what food they'll get.

"So how nervous are you for opening night?" Quinn could not have been more thrilled that Rachel was finally getting her chance. Kurt's eyes light up as he sips his martini…he's just happy he doesn't have to listen to the boys chat about shooting stuff anymore. And he's been planning his outfit for Rachel's opening night since he was 17.

He always knew it would happen. He just wasn't sure when. His outfit choices are the only thing that has wavered over the years. Because he could switch back and forth about the Tom Ford suit or the Gucci outfit, his confidence that Rachel would have an opening night on Broadway never had. Right now he's planning on going with the hipster craze and skinny jeans and a fedora. Maybe. Or something from his own line that he'd been working on…

"I've been so freaked out all week that I just want to throw up. This next week is all of our dress rehearsals and final fittings and the sound stuff getting worked out and then we open Thursday. You're still able to come right? You're all coming right?"

Rachel's shrill voice had brought the boys out of their conversation and they all turned to look at her.

Puck knows this voice. It's the crazy freak out voice she brought out when she was laying out her ideas for the glee club about sectionals, or regionals, or nationals, or to Noah about what colleges they should all apply to, and how to study for the SAT's, or whether or not he and Finn should have really done that whole revenge thing against Karofsky in senior year (he'd never bugged a fellow glee clubber after that), or a whole other list of things he could think of that regularly sets Rachel Berry off.

He also looks around the table and realizes that everyone here is ill-equipped to deal with the freak out in the form that he prefers. They all tend to placate her or stare at her wide-eyed until she's gets so freaked out she starts hyperventilating and he's not really up for that shit tonight.

"Chill drama queen. We've been over this a thousand times. I'm picking your dads up from the airport earlier in the day, Artie, Quinn and Kurt will meet us at the theatre at least an hour before the curtain goes up."

Puck recited the plan in a monotone voice that he adopted whenever talking Rachel down. Quinn and Kurt both had to work earlier in the day, and he had the day off, which is the only way Rachel had talked him into picking up her dads at the airport.

Not that he didn't like her dads. He knows them better now than he did in high school since they visit Rachel all the freaking time here in NY and she's brought them to enough of their drinking nights to become friendly with them. It's just hanging out with them when Rachel isn't around might be kinda…weird. He relies on her incessant chatter in awkward moments so he doesn't have to talk.

He's 90% sure that the car ride back from the airport is going to be one long awkward moment.

"You promise you're going to pick them up and take them to their hotel? You won't leave them there?"

Puck stares at her. "How old do you think I am that I would leave your dads at the airport? Keep acting like this and I might leave you at the airport next time you need a damn ride."

Everyone else laughs at the look on Rachel's face and Puck turns back to his conversation with Finn. He and the other guys finalize their plans for the XBOX tournament taking place tomorrow, and Kurt agrees to drop by with some healthier snacks to feed them besides beer and nachos.

Rachel can only handle so much video game talk on any given day, so her and Quinn offer to get the next round. As they make their way through the crowded bar, Quinn veers off to the bathroom and Rachel goes up to order the drinks.

Puck manages to keep an eye on Rachel while still talking to Mike and Matt about what they plan to do now that the crazy pop star they were dancing for is in rehab. Which means he sees Rachel's douche bag of an ex before she does. And he's got the girl he cheated on Rachel with him. Mother fucker he hated this guy.

Rachel's leaning against the bar, waiting for the bartender to finish pouring all the drinks for her group when she feels someone lean up against her and whisper in her ear.

"Still drinking alone I see."

Rachel freezes. She knows that voice. It's Anthony. The lawyer she dated for six months who used to complain that she focused more on her career that was going nowhere that she did on him. The one who was apparently cheating on her for three of those months. And truthfully, it's not like she was devastated when they broke up. She was going to do it anyway. It's just that it's humiliating to be cheated on.

She stares at him and wonders to herself why she ever dated this idiot in the first place.

"You remember Allison, don't you?" The whore next to him with the fake breasts and blonde hair shoots a nasty smile in her direction.

Just as Rachel's getting ready to respond, she feels arms slide around her waste. She turns and sees it's Noah. Her saviour at getting her out of this crap situation. Because yea, she could be mean and snotty to these losers and get all mad for the rest of the night…or she could have fun with it.

Noah always hated how this guy made Rachel feel about herself. And those six months that she was going out with this guy were the six months that Rachel and Noah fought the most. Every time he told her she was an idiot for dating him, Rachel would get all pissy and mad and then they'd argue and not talk for a few days. And whenever he was forced to hang out with the "happy couple" that fucktard would shoot him smug looks all night long. Noah was going to enjoy this.

He's got Rachel backed against the bar now and is brushing some of her gorgeous hair out of her eyes. He cups his hand behind her head and looks into her eyes. She flashes him a brilliant smile and he can tell she knows what hes up to and she's totally for it. Awesome.

"Baby, I just wanted to tell you how proud I am of you for opening your show on Broadway this week. I know you've worked your whole life for this and you are going to make Broadway your bitch. I'm glad you never listened to any of the losers who told you that you couldn't do it, because I always knew you could." Noah's kind of surprised at the words coming out of his mouth right now because as he's saying them, he knows he means them. He always did know she'd get here one day. He can tell she's touched by what he's saying, if her watering eyes are any indication.

"And you had better believe that after opening night, you and I are going to be putting on a special performance of our own back at my place." He wiggles her eyebrows down at her and she tries her hardest not to laugh.

There's this moment when Noah's leaning against her and the bar and she's looking up at him and he's looking down at her where time kind of stops. It's always like this with her, he thinks. He takes his chances that she's not going to turn him down in front of her ex, so he leans in and kisses her. He hasn't kissed her since high school, but it's not like he ever forgot what it was like. He just might have forgotten at how intense the feeling is when he's kissing Rachel.

Because she tastes like the fruity drink she had earlier and he can feel her hands fisting up in his shirt and the tiny moan she lets out as he presses against her fully and the slightly louder moan she lets out as his arms reach all the way around her as he kisses her deeper and he's wondering just why he hasn't kissed her in 8 years when a small cough alerts brings them back to their surroundings.

"So how long has this been going on?" Quinn had been stunned to walk up to the bar and see Noah have Rachel totally backed against it and kissing her. Not that it looked like Rachel minded the kissing at all, judging by the way she was hanging on to Noah's shirt.

A quick glance around tells Noah that Anthony and the girl must have left during their kiss, and no matter how much Rachel tries to explain the situation to Quinn, the blonde haired beauty isn't buying it. She hadn't seen Rachel's ex around at all and it didn't look like they were kissing for show so she tells Rachel that they'll discuss it later at home and she will force Rachel to tell her all of the details when Noah isn't around to hear.

"There are no details! We aren't together! We were just trying to piss Anthony off!" Rachel's protests have fallen on deaf ears and Noah kind of trails the girls back to the table with a small smile on his face. Damn. He forgot what a good kisser Rachel was.

The rest of the evening Noah can't help but notice the slight flush to Rachel's face or the small smile she has every time she looks at him. He also can't help the way he smiles back or stares at her a little longer that normal. As the night comes to a close, everyone who won't be at Rachel's show wishes her good luck and to break a leg. Noah walks Rachel to the cab that her and Quinn are taking back to their apartment while Quinn is preoccupied with her and Finn exchanging phone numbers.

"You know I meant what I said at the bar right? You're gonna knock em dead on Thursday. I can't wait to see it." He's pretty sure he's made Rachel Berry speechless twice in one night, so he leans down and gives her a kiss on the cheek and turns to catch up with the guys who are walking back to his apartment.

He might glance back at Rachel once before she gets into the cab to see her smiling at him as he walks away.

* * *

It's really no surprise that Rachel brings the house down in the revival of "Funny Girl". And to everyone who's ever met her, it's really not a surprise that Rachel Berry becomes somewhat of a household name over the next few months of her show. Between the 8 shows a week that Rachel's doing and Noah's work schedule and Kurt's new fashion line debuting to rave reviews and Quinn getting more jobs than ever as a fashion photographer, and Artie becoming an assistant director on a TV show shot in New York, their weekly drink nights get pushed to the back burner.

Noah's had a horrible day at work and it had ended with mounds of paper work that had to be submitted before he could leave. So it's almost 9pm and he'd been working since 7am and all he wants to do is go home and sleep before he has to do it again tomorrow, but his phone has a text from Quinn telling him to meet them at the bar so they can celebrate.

He has no idea what they're celebrating but he hasn't seen his friends in weeks and he's always up for a beer and some part of him acknowledges that he misses Rachel and she'll be there so he goes. He walks into the bar still in his uniform, planning on having a quick beer , but one look at the glow on Rachel's face lets him know she has news. Big news.

"Noah! Oh my god we've been waiting for you! I wouldn't let them toast anything until you got here because I simply can not celebrate my news without you! And I knew you'd been crazy busy at work so I knew you probably hadn't heard anything and I wanted to share it with you in person… I've been nominated for a Tony Award!" The scream that accompanies this news is deafening to his ear drums but he doesn't care. He's bear hugging Rachel for all she's worth.

Rachel's crying, Quinn's got tears running down her face, Kurt is openly sobbing telling her he will be designing her Tony dress and she can't argue with him and Noah might even have a few tears in his eyes. Artie has stolen Quinn's camera and is taking pictures of everything.

He releases her from his hug but keeps his arms wrapped around her waist to keep her close.

"I always knew you could do it pretty girl. Always." She's still really close to him and he wipes a few stray tears from her face and smiles down at her and he feels like this might become another one of their moments. Or it would have if the flash from Quinn's camera hadn't blinded them both. Apparently she had stolen it back from Artie.

"What? You guys looked adorable and I wanted to capture the moment. Trust me, you'll thank me for it when you see the picture." Quinn passes the camera over to them and they look at it. Noah looks at it surprised…because the look on his face is not one that he usually sports. If he was looking at this picture and didn't know the people in it, he'd assume it was a couple in love. He can tell that even Rachel is a little surprised by it as well. He kind of coughs and agrees that the picture was worth the blindness and moves on with the conversation. (He does corner Quinn later and makes her promise to send him a copy of the picture. Quinn already has designs on turning it black and white and framing it for their future children. Because honestly, these two were ridiculous and needed to get their shit together.)

The rest of the night is spent toasting Rachel and taking pictures of the celebration. Throughout the course of the night, every single former glee club member and Mr. Schue and Mrs. P have all called with their congratulations.

The scariest moment was when Coach Sue Sylvester called and congratulated Rachel (she's terrified as to how that woman even got her phone number) and told her that even though she was an undersized midget who only possessed a fraction of the talent that Sue Sylvester possessed and had Sue ever put her mind to it she's sure she could have won a Tony, she was happy for Rachel and wished her the best of luck.

"So when is the ceremony? Are you performing in it? Who's going to be your date?" Rachel's doesn't know the answers to any of the questions but the first (sometime in June) but she does promise that they will all get tickets to the show if they want to come. Only one person can sit with her but the rest can still be in Radio City Music Hall in case she wins. And she can get them into the after parties as well.

Kurt almost faints with happiness. Noah doesn't get home until late that night and knows he has to get up extremely early but he can't think of a better reason to lose sleep.

* * *

Puck's breath catches in his throat as he listens to the police dispatcher over the radio. One taxicab got t-boned by another and there's a girl trapped in one of the cars waiting to be cut out of the cab but it's upside down and it's taking sometime and she's asking for Officer Puckerman. His stomach is churning and he knows it's going to be Rachel in that cab before he even gets there. She was supposed to be meeting Kurt at his studio for a dress fitting because the Tonys were in a few weeks.

His partner drives at lightening speed to get him to the scene. It takes less than a minute, they weren't far away, but it feels like hours. The car hasn't even stopped before Puck is out and sprinting towards the wreck. He has to stop for a second when he gets close to the cars. It's worse than he thought. He can see paramedics putting someone, maybe the driver, on a backboard. The one cab has the hood smashed up and the glass shattered but it looks like those people are okay. It's the other cab, Rachel's cab, that has his puking his guts out on the sidewalk.

It's upside down and trapped between two cars.

He pulls himself together and makes it to the officers at the scene. Luckily one of his buddies from the force, Sam, spots him and pulls him over to the side of the car talking softly.

"She's alive and talking, slightly woozy. She was on the opposite side of the impact where the cab hit. The cab flipped but she was wearing her seatbelt. She's crushed between the door and the other car and we can cut her out soon, we're just working on getting equipment in to get her. She was calm when we got here and was asking for you, but she's starting to become hysterical and we need to keep her heart rate down and try to keep her calm. We don't know the extent of her injuries yet. Just keep her awake and talking."

Puck looks his buddy in the eye and says thank you. He can tell that Sam was trying to keep him calm as well. He also knows that the situation isn't good and is probably going to get worse. He tries to keep from puking again as he makes his way to the overturned cab.

Puck crawls through an opening between the cars, so that if he lies on his belly he can see in the window to where Rachel is.

Her eyes are closed and theres blood running down her face.

"Rachel! Rachel!"

Her eyes open slowly and turns her head towards the sound.

"Noah?"

"Yea, it's me baby. How are you feeling?"

"Noah." She says his name as she starts sobbing. He was here. She knew she'd be okay as long as Noah got there. He'd make sure she was okay.

"Rachel, sweetie, I need you to keep calm. They're going to cut you out of there and are working as fast as they can. I need you to tell me what hurts." Keeping Rachel calm was his number one priority which meant that he had to act like he was calm so he didn't freak her out. He was barely keeping it together.

Rachel thinks for a moment on what hurts. "My head hurts. And my leg. And I think the cab is leaking because there's water in my eyes."

Noah can see her face from where he's positioned on the ground. He's not about to tell her it's blood and not water.

"Can you wiggle your fingers and toes?"

The groan that comes out of her mouth as she wiggles her toes lets him know that at least she isn't paralyzed. Judging from the hit from the other cab, he's guessing she probably has a broken leg. She reports no pain in her arms as she wiggles her fingers. She manages to postion her right arm near the window, so Noah takes her hand and holds on for dear life.

He looks up to see that the guys are signaling for 3 more minutes before everything is ready. He knows he needs to prepare Rachel.

"Okay Rachel, I need you to listen to me. They are going to bring over the tools to cut you out now and it's going to be loud and scary. But I'll be here the entire time holding your hand and I won't let you go. You just have to think happy thoughts to get through it. Think of something happy okay?"

He can tell that she's scared enough about the accident and being trapped and being in pain that she can't really remember happy things right now. Also, he's pretty confident that she has a concussion and she needs to be kept awake, even though it hurts. So he helps her.

"Remember when we shot that ridiculous "Run Joey Run" music video. You talked me into that shit, when all I wanted to do was hook up." He looks up to her face, the small part of it that he can see, and sees her eyes fluttering closed.

"RACHEL!" the shout jars her awake again but she looks confused as to where she is.

"Noah?"

Noah starts babbling. Anything to keep her awake. "Remember when we won Nationals and Mike and Matt hoisted you up on their shoulders so fast that you almost fell off? And remember when you starred in your first off broadway play in the crappy little theatre up ten stories of stairs? It was worth walking up those stairs to see your smile on that stage…Rachel…remember?" He sees a slight smile come across her face and he's going to keep talking when she mumbles something.

"Noah…remember the night in the bar when Anthony showed up…that was a good night." And then her eyes drift close again.

"Rachel!"

He looks up again and sees that the guys are ready to get started. He's about to lose his shit again because Rachel opens her eyes again and seems confused to where she is and the loud noises of metal being cut aren't about to help her state of mind any. He just wants her out of there.

"Just hold my hand baby. It'll all be over soon." He doesn't even realize the wetness on his face isn't from sweat, but from tears.

He has to let go of her hand briefly as the guys move around him, and it's then that Rachel falls silent. The guys are working as fast at they can to get her out, and having Officer Puckerman screaming at them to go faster isn't really helping. The EMT's reach in and put her in a neck brace and get the back board ready.

The EMT's try to persuade the officer to move, but he's been in enough of these situations to know what to do. He tells them that he's helping them and to get the hell on with it. Luckily he's worked with most of these guys before on various scenes so they don't argue with him. There's only enough room for one person to reach down and pull Rachel out and Noah will be damned if he lets anyone else do it. He wrestles with the seatbelt that was keeping her against the seat and takes all of her weight in his arms and pulls her gently out of the cab and holds her against him for just a moment before he places her on the backboard that the EMT's are holding out to him.

Her eyes are closed and she's bleeding from the head and her left leg is clearly broken. There's a moment before they load her into the ambulance where Puck is just standing there looking around. He can't understand how people are still driving around the accident and how the tourists are walking around the accident like it's nothing. He wants to scream that it isn't nothing, its Rachel, HIS Rachel, and how is the world still spinning right now? He feels like it should have stopped the moment the accident happened. He sure as hell knows his world has stopped.

He feels his partner push him towards the ambulance, tells him he'll tell the Captain what happened and to call him later when he has updates about Rachel.

He's in the hospital waiting room filling out her paperwork when Quinn and Artie show up.

"Noah…Oh my God. Is she okay? Is that her blood on you?" Quinn's white as a sheet and already crying when Puck looks up. He's momentarily confused by her question, but then he looks down. He had been filling out the paperwork and didn't even realize that his hands were covered in blood and he was getting it all over the paperwork he was supposed to be filling out.

He blinks at Quinn and answers. "I don't know. They took her back to surgery and won't tell me anything."

Quinn stares at Puck. She takes in the blood on his hands (that he didn't notice), the dark smears that she assumes are blood on his uniform, the paperwork that's empty of information but full of smears from his hands and the look in his eyes that tells her that he's not sure what to do. So Quinn takes charge.

She requests new paperwork from the front desk and sends Noah into the mens room with Artie to help get him cleaned off. She starts to fill out the paperwork and half-listens to the TV in the waiting room.

"…Tony award nominated actress in a devastating car crash in Manhattan just moments ago. We have pictures from the scene…"

Quinn looks up in shock as the pictures flash across the screen. They only have two pictures and the first one is of Noah pulling a bloody, unconscious Rachel out of the cab. The look on Noah's face and the wreckage that's surrounding him is enough to make Quinn start crying again. The second is of Noah gently placing Rachel on the stretcher. Even though the picture was taken from a ways away, its apparent that Noah's got tears running down his face and his hand is hovering over head like he was stroking the hair out of her face.

In the bathroom, Artie is slowly talking Noah through the motions of washing his hands and taking off his uniform and changing into a spare set of scrubs that he persuaded the nurses to give him. Noah feels like he's on auto-pilot and just listening to Artie give him directions on what to do next. His mind can't stop running through the what ifs, and what will happen next and if Rachel really is okay like the doctor said she would be.

He saw the car. He saw the wreckage. There's no way she could be okay after that. He can't get the picture of Rachel unconscious with blood dripping down her face out of his mind and suddenly hes dry heaving into a stall because there's nothing left to throw up. When he's done, he walks over to the sink and splashes some water on his face and walks back out to find Kurt with Quinn.

They find her sobbing in the waiting room and she points to the TV. Noah looks to see that Rachel's accident is already headline news and it hasn't even been an hour yet. He's shocked to see the pictures and is going to sue the PANTS off those mother fucking assholes as soon as he can. He can't believe they're putting her pictures on TV when she's unconscious and hurt. His fear for Rachel is somewhat pushed aside with blind rage as he tell Kurt to get in touch with Rachel's agent and fill her in. She assures Kurt that she's preparing a statement to be released and that yes, she has lawyers working on getting the pictures off the internet and TV, but that they shouldn't hold their breath on that one.

It's been hours and Noah can't sit still. He's been pacing and pacing and trying to ignore Quinn and Kurt who just want him to talk about what happened. But he can't. Because he needs to know that Rachel really is going to be okay before he even thinks about what today has been like.

"You're here with Ms. Berry correct?" Noah didn't even realize the doctor was in front of him.

"Yes. Is she okay?"

"The surgery on her leg went well. The break wasn't as bad as we originally thought, so with rehab and therapy she should make a full recovery. Her bruised ribs will be very painful for quite a few weeks but we'll be giving her pain killers for that. She does have a severe concussion that is going to keep her in the hospital for the next few days while we monitor it and her pain medicines. She's asleep now but you may go in and see her."

Noah, Quinn and Kurt sprint towards Rachel's room. Quinn keeps Artie's wheelchair in front of them to get people out of their way. Kurt manages to do it while sending out a mass text to all of their friends and Rachel's agent about her updates from the doctor. Kurt and Quinn go in first because Noah takes a second to breathe at the door.

Noah can't get over how small she looks in that hospital bed. He always knew she was tiny but damn. She is crazy small. Her leg is in a cast and her forehead has stitches up by her hairline, but other than that she looks okay.

"Okay. I'll have to start over with my Tony dress but that will be okay. I can make it more loose, and we can do her hair to hide the stitches. How are we going to work around the crutches though?" Noah hears Quinn tell Kurt that he still has three weeks to pull it together and not to worry. Artie tells Kurt that what Rachel wears to the Tony Awards are probably the least of Rachel's worries right now.

Noah silently walks over, pulls a chair up close to Rachel's bed and holds onto her hands. When the nurses come in to tell them that visiting hours are over, Noah not so politely tells them to shove it because he'll be staying there for the evening. Kurt, Artie and Quinn laugh and leave and tell him to call them if Rachel wakes up.

"Noah?" Noah blinks his eyes and realizes that he must have fallen asleep at some point. The room is darker now. He looks over and sees that Rachel's eyes are open.

"Hey…how are you feeling?" He talks softly as he pours her a glass of water. She groans when she moves an arm out to hold it, so Noah places the straw near her lips so she can drink without pain.

"I feel like I've been hit by a bus."

"Close. Another taxi." He's never been happier to see a smile on her face than he is at this moment.

"Do you remember what happened?"

"I was running late to meet Kurt so I got in the cab. We'd only gone three blocks when we got hit. Noah…I was so scared. I couldn't move. When the first officer got there I just started asking for you. I remember you being there…thank you for being there." She looks up at him with her big brown eyes full of tears and Noah can't hold back his own anymore.

"I was afraid I was going to lose you. You scared the shit out of me today Rachel. You're never allowed to do that again." Rachel smiles softly and wipes some of the tears off of Noah's face. He leans down and kisses her gently on the lips as she agrees to never get hurt ever again. Noah knows it's a crazy thing to make her promise, but he needs to be reassured right now that she's going to be okay.

* * *

It's been three weeks since the accident and Rachel is pretty sure Noah hasn't let her out of his sight (save for the days he had to work. And then he makes Quinn stay home or has Artie or Kurt come over and watch her and text him hourly updates). It'd be cute if it wasn't driving her crazy. And besides, leaving her with Kurt while he's trying to think of how to dress her for her Tony night now that she's injured is also driving her crazy.

She's pretty sure the doctor told her to relax for the next few weeks and recover, and watching Kurt flit from dress to dress that he has spread out and talking aloud about what accessories go with which dress and how he was going to bedazzle her crutches is NOT relaxing. It's stressing her out.

"KURT! Sit your ass down now! You're driving me insane!" Kurt freezes and turns to stare at Rachel, who is currently propped up on her couch watching TV.

"Wow. Spending all this time with Noah is certainly rubbing off on you. Fine. I'll sit down so we can have a chat as to just what is going on with you and your hot Superhero boyfriend that has all of the gossip blogs and magazines worked up about."

"You know nothings going on with us. He's just staying here to help me out since Quinn's been busy with her photoshoots these past few weeks. And those pictures never should have been taken or printed because of course Noah was going to be upset with me being in an accident like that. And it's not our fault that they figured out we went to high school together and are now pairing us as an item."

"So if nothing's going on then why does he spend every night over here, even though Quinn comes home at night, and sleeps in your room with you?" Kurt's knowing look at Rachel's explanation of how Noah doesn't want her to be alone sounds weak even to her ears. And she know's she's blushing. And nothing really was going on with them…it's just he stayed with her the first night…and she'd asked him to stay the second and ever since then he'd been there.

Noah had been forced to go back to work pretty soon after Rachel's accident, although he managed to use a few personal days immediately after to get her all settled in at her apartment. And then he basically moved in with her in case she ever needed anything. His shift was over for the day and he was rushing home to make sure everything was good because Kurt hadn't texted him his last hourly update.

He uses his key to get into Rachel and Quinn's apartment and sees that Rachel's face is more red than it usually is and he immediately becomes concerned.

"Hey…how are you feeling? Are you running a fever? Your face is all red." Noah's all set to go find the thermometer and some aspirin when Kurt's laughter stops him.

"She's fine. She's just blushing. Okay anyway Rach I'll be here tomorrow early to get you all ready. And Noah too. I have a suit just for him since he's going to escort you and help you walk down the press line. Make sure you get a good night sleep so there's no ugly bags under your eyes tomorrow."

Rachel rolls her eyes and agrees to Kurt's demands because she's learned in 10 years of friendship that there's no use fighting him when it comes to fashion and red carpet looks. Plus, he made her dress for free and she absolutely loves it so she's not going to argue.

* * *

Rachel had kept Noah close during her red carpet…he wants to say walk but really hobble is the only way to describe how Rachel makes it down the press line with her crutches (that Kurt had in fact bedazzled to match her beautiful green dress). She's gracious and humble when she says she's excited to just be nominated and doesn't really expect to win and when asked about her accident she introduces Noah as an old friend who is now a police officer who pulled her out of the cab that day and that she is expected to be back on Broadway in a few months.

Noah just smiles besides her the whole time because interjecting that of course she's going to win would seem rude he thinks. They get seated in a front row because one, Rachel's actually nominated and two, she has a broken leg in a cast and she needs some extra space. There's a moment before the show starts where she turns to him with the biggest smile he's ever seen on her face and she clutches his hand and he can tell she's about to FREAK OUT that she's not only at the Tony Awards, but might win one.

"Noah…can you believe we're here? After everything I've been through and you've been through, who would have thought you and I would end up at the Tony Awards." Noah has to laugh because they've been through some shit. Between the slushies, and glee club, and Quinn and Beth and Finn, and New York and the accident and just everything…he never would have believe in high school if someone told him he'd be here tonight with Rachel Berry he probably would have thrown them in the dumpster.

But here they are.

So he kind of goes with a whole seize the day thing because he'd had a hard enough time forgetting their kiss from a few months ago and ever since he almost lost her from his life permanently he's been thinking that he likes taking care of her and sleeping in the same bed with her every night. But most nights he wishes they could be doing things other than sleeping in that bed. He just doesn't want to push her since the accident.

But they're here at the Tony Awards and its him and its her so he leans down and gives her a soft kiss. He pulls back and smiles when he tells her he's so proud of her and that she earned it. And the show starts.

When Rachel's name is announced as the winner for Best Actress in Musical, the place goes crazy. She turns to him and she's already crying as they hug (and most of the audience is freaking out because they have seen enough of the magazine covers to know that this is the cop who pulled her out of the wreckage) and she goes to pick up her crutches and realizes that she can't get up the stairs gracefully in this dress with the crutches.

She looks to Noah for help and he just laughs and scoops her up and carries her up the stairs and deposits her in front of the podium. She was going to wait for the audience to stop clapping but there's a ruckus from the upper decks and when she looks up she recognizes her dads and Noah's family and the entire Mckinley High Glee Club. She's already laughing and when she sees them shouting and clapping to the extreme that when the rest of the audience has gone quiet that corner is still shouting and screaming for her.

"That's my high school glee club!" She points up to them and the audience turns up and laughs at the crazy people. Beside her, Noah is cracking up and waving.

She takes a deep breath because she knows she doesn't have a lot of time up here.

"I just want to say thank you to everyone who got me here. My dads, my dance teachers, my high school glee club and Mr. Schue. Without them I definitely wouldn't have even tried to come to New York. I want to thank everyone who made this musical happen and my costars and the director. But, I really need to thank one person in particular." Rachel takes a breath so she doesn't start bawling and Noah takes a half-step closer to her in case she needs him. He's expecting her to thank Quinn or Kurt or someone and is blown away when she turns to face him.

"I am beyond grateful for this award but when I was stuck in that cab and it felt like I was never going to get out of it…this award didn't even cross my mind. When you're stuck in a situation like that, all of a sudden your priorities change. I mean, I was going for a dress fitting and then all of a sudden I was trapped. And when I was in that cab all I could think about was how much I wanted you there. Because I knew I would be okay if you were there with me…and you came and rescued me." Noah's fighting back tears at this point and Rachel's given up trying as there are tears rolling down her face.

"You've been in my life for almost ten years now and I think it's probably time that I tell you that I love you."

The audience gasps as they watch Noah close the last two steps to Rachel, takes her face in his hands and kisses her like he never wants to let her go. She wraps her arms around his neck and holding on for dear life and the only thing that makes them stop is the music playing them off stage and the hoots and catcalls from the crows.

Just before he picks her back up to carry her backstage, he leans down and whispers in her ear "I love you too."


End file.
